Jewish & Christian Interfaith Wedding Script with Breaking the Glass Ritual

SIGNING OF THE KETUBAH

Officiant

Before we have the ceremony, we will have the signing of the Ketubah. The Ketubah is an ancient document and is a marriage contract that lays out the couple's commitment to each other.  It is signed by two (Jewish) witnesses, neither of whom can be blood-related family members of the couple.

• The Ketubah is signed by the Officiant, Partner A, Partner B, and the two chosen witnesses.

GREETING & HOUSEKEEPING ANNOUNCEMENT

Officiant 

Good afternoon/evening! It is my pleasure to welcome you to (Partner A) and (Partner B's) wedding ceremony. Before we begin, I would like everyone to join me in the especially important and traditional custom of turning the volume of your cell phones up as high as possible, so that when somebody gets a phone call during the ceremony, we all know whom to blame.

Alternatively, please silence and put away your phones and cameras as the couple would like you to be present with them at this very special moment. The ceremony will begin shortly. 

PROCESSION

• Processional music plays.

OFFICIANT

• If guests do not stand for partner b's entrance, the officiant will ask them to rise.

Please rise.

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION 

OFFICIANT

• If guests are not seated after the wedding party has taken their places, the officiant will ask them to sit down. 

Please take your seats.  

Today, you are all here because you have been invited to join in an adventure. You will witness as (Partner B) and (Partner A) embark on their adventure of marriage to one another (The couple’s name) has asked that I thank you all for your presence here today. They ask for your blessing, encouragement, and lifelong support for their decision to be married.

MOMENT OF SILENCE & Lighting of memorial candle

• This section of the ceremony is optional.  

OFFICIANT

Love has gathered us here today.  [Any loved one’s names that the couple may want to be mentioned), all of blessed memory, would have been incredibly proud to be celebrating this marriage with all of us today.

Still, we feel their presence with us, as they surround us with their spirit and shower us with their love. In their memory, we honor them today with them looking on from the front row, commemorated with (flowers, empty chairs, and photographs).  

It is also in their memory that (Partner A) and (Partner B) will now light memorial candles and take a moment to remember all of the loved ones who cannot be here to share this moment with them today.

• Pause for a moment of silence

LOVE STORY

• OFFICIANT shares a few words about how the couple met, how they became engaged, they're values and common interests, etc. This section is optional but we strongly encourage you to include it, personalizing it with details and memories from the couple's time together. 

 WEDDING SERMON

Officiant

Marriage is more than a simple exchanging of rings or combining of material assets. Rather, it is an indescribably powerful shared commitment. While today I will legally bind you together, the truly important bonds we form today are largely invisible to the world, existing primarily in the unfilled corners of your heart.

Marriage is one of life's greatest gifts, and it is a blessing to make these promises with your soulmate. As you hold onto one another, you will find deeper levels of joy, happiness, and peace together. Your marriage is the foundation upon which you will build the rest of your lives and, despite any adversity, will always be there to sustain you.

(Partner A) and (Partner B) take a moment to sense the tremendous amount of love radiating throughout this beautiful space. As you stand here today, before G-d, before those gathered here in your honor, and before one another, take note that your lives will never be the same after you speak your vows. 

Marriage, regardless of any preconceived notions you might have, can deepen, challenge, and strengthen you and your relationship in ways that you never thought possible. (Partner A) and (Partner B), you will see and feel each other’s appreciation grow more abundantly than you already have. You will give each other what is needed to grow more confident every day, and your love for one another will continue to be unconditional.  

The joy you will find as you pursue your shared lives will fuel you to face head-on the challenges you will encounter on this Earth. On your journeys together, keep each other in the space of highest priority in your heart.

Learn to work together, laugh together, (an activity the couple enjoys doing) together, and love together. Do not get caught up in worldly things that will draw you apart. Instead, focus on your shared devotion and turn inward. As your relationship strengthens, you will find that you come to share a wondrous love that is abundantly given and freely accepted.

Wedding Reading #1

• The Officiant or a chosen family member will now share a reading.

Officiant to guests

(Officiant or Family member) will now read Proverbs 31:10-31 Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character.

Officiant or family member 

A wife of noble character who can find?
    She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
    and lacks nothing of value.
She brings him good, not harm,
    all the days of her life.
She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands.
In her hand she holds the distaff
    and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
She opens her arms to the poor
    and extends her hands to the needy.
Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting.
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Honor her for all that her hands have done,
    and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

DECLARATION OF INTENT

Officiant to the couple

Please turn towards one another and join hands.
(Partner A) and (Partner B), I ask that you always treat yourselves, and each other, with respect. I ask that you remind yourselves, often, of what brought you together. I ask that you both take responsibility for the quality of your lives together and work toward the common goals of creating peace, joy, and harmony in your marriage. 

Officiant to partner b

(Partner B), do you take (Partner A) to be your Wife/Husband/Partner? 

Partner B

I do 

Officiant to partner b

Do you promise to love him/her/them, comfort him/her/them, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, to be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?  

Partner B

I do 

Officiant to partner b

Do you promise to do your absolute best each day to create a loving, healthy, and happy marriage?

Partner B

I do 

Officiant to partner A

(Partner A), do you take (Partner B) to be your Wife/Husband/Partner? 

Partner A

I do  

Officiant to partner a

Do you promise to love him/her/them, comfort him/her/them, in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, to be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?  

Partner A

I do  

Officiant to partner a

Do you promise to do your absolute best each day to create a loving, healthy, and happy marriage?

Partner A

I do  

Exchange of wedding vows

OFFICIANT to the couple

Now that you have declared your intentions, I invite you to share your vows with one another.

(Partner A)

• Partner A will read the personal vows they have written.

(Partner B)

• Partner B will read the personal vows they have written.

Exchange of wedding rings & RING BLESSING 

• the officiant should make sure that each person has the other’s ring in hand before beginning this section. 

Officiant to Partner A

(Partner A), please place (Partner B)’s ring halfway on their finger, hold it there, and repeat after me. 

(Partner B), I choose you to be no other than yourself,  (pause and repeat)
I will respect and adore you always, (pause and repeat)
and in all ways.  (pause and repeat)
With this ring, I give you my promise (pause and repeat)
From this day forward, you shall not walk alone.  (pause and repeat)
May my heart be your shelter  (pause and repeat)
and my arms be your home.  (pause and repeat)
As I place it on your finger, (pause and repeat)
I commit my heart and soul to you.  (pause and repeat)
 Loving what I know of you, (pause and repeat)
trusting what I do not yet know; (pause and repeat)
Never above you, (pause and repeat)
never below you; (pause and repeat)
always beside you.  (pause and repeat)
Whatever may come, I will always be there.  (pause and repeat)

Push their ring the rest of the way onto their finger. 

Officiant to Partner B

(Partner B), please place (Partner A)’s ring halfway on her finger, hold it there and repeat after me.

(Partner A), I choose you to be no other than yourself,  (pause and repeat)
I will respect and adore you always, (pause and repeat)
and in all ways.  (pause and repeat)
With this ring, I give you my promise (pause and repeat)
From this day forward, you shall not walk alone.  (pause and repeat)
May my heart be your shelter  (pause and repeat)
and my arms be your home.  (pause and repeat)
As I place it on your finger, (pause and repeat)
I commit my heart and soul to you.  (pause and repeat)
 Loving what I know of you, (pause and repeat)
trusting what I do not yet know; (pause and repeat)
Never above you, (pause and repeat)
never below you; (pause and repeat)
always beside you.  (pause and repeat)
Whatever may come, I will always be there.  (pause and repeat)

Push their ring the rest of the way onto their finger.

SAND CEREMONY

Officiant to the couple

(Partner A) and (Partner B), while the words you have spoken have sealed your union, the combining of sands truly symbolizes the melding of your two souls.

• Partner A and Partner B should receive a vessel, each containing sand of a different color.

Officiant to the couple

Each of you now holds a vessel of sand. Allow this sand to represent your life: every thought that is ever crossed your mind and every word that is ever crossed your lips; all of your victories and all of your failures; all of your joys and all of your sorrows. Every grain of sand is another moment that has been or is yet to be.

• Partner A and Partner B should tilt their vessels forward, pouring their sand into the larger vessel centered between them.

Officiant to the couple

Watch as the grains of sand mix together, forming one structure. So too, have your two spirits come together today to form one singular entity just as your combined sands have combined to form a collection much grander than you ever could have accumulated on your own. Note also that now combined, the sands may never again be separated. Your lives, like the sand, have become all the grander with the involvement of your partner. As you move forward in life, keep your partner close to your heart, recognizing that they are an integral part of your being.

Wedding READING #2

 

• The Officiant or a chosen family member will now share a reading.

Officiant to guests

(Officiant or Family member) will now read a passage from Corinthians 13:1–8  13:13

Officiant or family member 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.  But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

CLOSING & PRONOUNCEMENT

OFFICIANT to the couple

(Partner A) and (Partner B), today, you have stood before your family and friends and declared your intent to commit your lives to each other in marriage. You have made promises to each other and to your family. 

I hope you will never forget the love and joy you feel today because these are the values that will keep your marriage, family, and bond to one another, strong.

May your lives be perfect compliments to one another.
May your hearts be full of joy and also full of laughter.
May a smile adorn your faces today and ever after.

May those you love grow with you and help you make your way.
May your love for each other grown more abundant every day.
May your hearts, minds, and souls be blessed.
May you capture true love’s prize.

BREAKING OF GLASS ritual

•  a Person of Honor will place the glass near the couple

Officiant to guests and couple

We conclude today with the Breaking of the Glass.

The breaking of the glass holds multiple meanings within the Jewish faith. Some say it represents the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Others say it demonstrates that marriage holds sorrow and joy and represents the commitment to stand by one another even in hard times. It is also to remind all of us that like the glass is fragile, so are human relationships. Once the glass is broken, it can never return to what it was. As you break this glass today, you will find it will take a conscious effort.

(Partner A)/(Partner B), you are going to have to really stomp on it! So, may your bond of love be as difficult to break, as it would be to put back together these pieces of glass. Knowing that this marriage is permanent, may the two of you strive daily to show each other love and respect.

After (Partner A) and/or (Partner B) breaks the glass, I invite everyone to shout the Hebrew words “Mazel Tov,” meaning, Good Luck and Congratulations.

• One or both partners will stomp on the glass to break it, and the guests will cheer in support. 

THE KISS

• The officiant will step aside, out of photo range for the first kiss. 

Officiant to the couple

And now what you have both ever so patiently been waiting for… And so, by the power vested in me by the State of [Name of State], I now pronounce you (married/husband and wife/husband and husband, wife and wife). You may now seal this union with a kiss. 

• They kiss!

THE PRESENTATION

• The Couple turns toward the audience after the kiss to be introduced/presented.

Officiant to guests

It is with great joy that I present to you (Name and Name) – married in the eyes of G-d, in law and love.

THE RECESSIONAL 

• Partner A and Partner B exit down the aisle. They will stop to kiss again about half-way down the aisle.
• When the couple is about half way, the officiant will cue the wedding party to exit, leaving two-by-two.
• Next the parents will leave, followed by the officiant.

Ceremony ends